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Mumbai City FC

V

FC Pune City

DY Patil Stadium, Mumbai

18th October 2014, 19:00IST

Freddie Ljungberg’s Mumbai City Fc locks horns with David Trezeguet’s FC Pune City, in an exciting battle between two teams from Maharashtra – the Maratha Derrby. Both of the teams have not had a good start to the tournament. Mumbai started with a 0-3 drubbing at the hands of Atletico De Kolkata, while Pune played out a goalless draw against Delhi Dynamos to kick off their ISL campaign. Thus both teams will look to get their first win in the ISL. Apart from the 3 points, the bragging rights of Maharashtra will also be at stake.

Team News and Tactical Brief:

Mumbai City FC

Peter Reid’s side will be strengthened by the inclusion of their marquee player, Freddie Ljungberg. Mumbai will still continue to miss the services of their iconic striker, Nicolas Anelka, who is out due to suspension. They will also miss their skipper Syed Rahim Nabi, who suffered an injury in the match against Atletico De Kolkata, and is likely to be out for 3 months. Peter Read plays with a 4-2-3-1 formation. Subrata Paul is supposed to start under the bar. The experienced, Arjuna Award winner, Deepak Mondal is likely to start as the right back. The central defense will comprise of the pairing of the 24 year old Czech centre back, Pavel Cmvos and the experienced German World Cupper Manuel Friedrich. Raju Gaikwad is likely to play as the left back. The duo of K Asif and Jan Stohanzl look probable to start as defensive screens. Mumbai’s marquee, the former Arsenal player, Freddie Ljungberg is set to replace their injured skipper, Syed Rahim Nabi on the right wing. Tiago Ribiero of Switzerland is likely to play the role of a central attacking midfielder with Lalrindika Ralte starting on the left flank. Argentine striker Diego Nadaya is likely to start as the targetman for Peter Reid’s side in the absence of Nicolas Anelka.

Franco Colomba is likely to start with a conventional 4-4-2 formation. The Italian veteran, Emanuele Belardi is likely to start with the gloves for the team from Pune. Mohun Bagan’s (in I-League) Pritam Kotal is likely to start as the right back. Dhanaraj Ravanan will pair up with the experienced Italian center back, Bruno Cirillo. The young Korean Park Kwang looks favourite to start as the left back. The Greek World Cupper, Katsouranis will look to martial the central midfield along with Lenny Rodrigues. The speedy Israil Gurung is set to start on the right flank while Mumbai FC’s (in I-League) Ashutosh Mehta looks likely to start on the left wing. The biggest asset of FC Pune City is their forward line. Their marquee player, the man who scored the golden goal in the final of the Euro Cup in 2000, David Trezeguet is likely pair up with the Nigerian goal machine, Dudu Omagbemi up front. Fc Pune City are however unlikely to get the services of ace Romanian striker, Adrian Mutu.

Predictions:

Mumbai City FC 0 – FC Pune City 2

Mumbai’s defence looked fragile against Atletico De Kolkata, and it is going to be a tough task for Mumbai’s defence to keep the likes of David Trezeguet and Dudu Omagbemi at bay. Meanwhile Mumbai will be missing Anelka and Nabi and even though their marquee Ljungberg is set to return, it is going to be difficult for the Mumbai attack to break the defensive walls of FC Pune City. The Pune defense will also be high on confidence as they will be playing on the back of a clean sheet game against Alessandro Del Piero’s Delhi Dynamos.